§235-97  Estimates; tax payments; returns.

(a)  (1)  Individuals, corporations (including Scorporations), estates, and trusts, shall annually furnish the department oftaxation with a declaration of estimated tax for the current taxable year. Declarations of estimated tax, except as otherwise provided by rule, shall begoverned by the provisions as to returns contained in sections 235-94, 235-98,235-99, and 235-128.  The declarations shall be made on estimated tax paymentvoucher forms.  The payment voucher shall be filed, in the case of taxpayers onthe calendar year basis, on or before April 20.  In the case of a husband andwife who are entitled to submit a joint payment voucher for federal purposes, asingle payment voucher may be submitted by them jointly, in which case theliability with respect to the estimated tax shall be joint and several; if ajoint payment voucher is submitted but a joint income tax return is not madefor the taxable year, the estimated tax for the year may be treated as the estimatedtax of either the husband or the wife or may be divided between them.

(2)  Each taxpayer shall transmit, with the paymentvoucher, payment of one-quarter of the estimated tax for the current taxableyear.  In determining this quarterly payment and all other installments, therefirst shall be deducted from the total estimated tax the amount of estimatedtax withholding or collection at source for the taxable year.  Thereafter, onthe twentieth day of June and September, the taxpayer shall transmit with thepayment voucher, payment of one-quarter of the estimated tax.  The fourthquarter payment of the estimated tax shall be transmitted with the paymentvoucher by January 20 of the year following the taxable year for which theestimate was made.

(3)  Taxpayers operating on a fiscal year basis shallmake similar estimates and tax payments, on or before the twentieth day of thefourth month of the fiscal year and periodically thereafter so as to conform tothe payments and returns required in the case of those on a calendar yearbasis.

(4)  The department by rule may excuse individualsfrom filing an estimate in those cases where the gross income and exemptionsare such that no tax is expected to accrue under this chapter, or are such thatsubstantially all the tax will be collected through tax withholding or at thesource.

(5)  In the case of a foreign corporation, thedepartment may excuse the filing of an estimate and the payment of estimatedtax if it is satisfied that less than fifteen per cent of the corporation'sbusiness for the taxable year will be attributable to the State.  For thepurposes of this paragraph, fifteen per cent of a corporation's business shallbe deemed attributable to the State if fifteen per cent or more of the entiregross income of the corporation (which for the purposes of this paragraph meansgross income computed without regard to source in the State) is attributable tothe State under sections 235-21 to 235-39 or other provisions of this chapter.

(6)  In the case of a taxpayer whose tax liability isless than $500, the filing of an estimate and the payment of estimated taxshall not be required.

(b)  Net income returns for the taxable yearshall be filed with the department on or before the twentieth day of the fourthmonth following the close of the taxable year, and shall be accompanied bypayment of the balance of the tax for the taxable year, or the entire tax forthe taxable year, as the case may be.  These returns shall be filed both bypersons required to make declarations of estimated tax pursuant to this sectionand by persons not required to make declarations of estimated tax.

(c)  At the election of the taxpayer, anyinstallment of the estimated tax may be paid prior to the date prescribed forits payment.

(d)  A person who, under the regulations of thedepartment adopted pursuant to subsection (a)(4), is relieved of filing anestimate, shall if the regulations cease to apply by reason of a change ofcircumstances during the taxable year, file the required estimate on the firstquarterly payment date prescribed for payment of estimated taxes, followingsuch change of circumstances, and pay the estimated tax in equal installmentscomputed by allocating the entire amount shown by the estimate for the currenttaxable year to the remaining quarterly payment dates.

(e)  An amendment of an estimate may be filed,under regulations prescribed by the department.  If an amendment is filed, theremaining installments, if any, shall be ratably increased or decreased toreflect the increase or decrease in the estimate.  The amended estimate may beaccompanied by payment of the amount of underpayment, if any, and if so thisshall be considered in determining the period of the underpayment as providedin subsection (g).

(f)  In the case of any underpayment ofestimated tax, except as provided by this subsection, there shall be added tothe tax for the taxable year an amount determined at the rate of two-thirds ofone per cent a month or fraction of a month upon the amount of the underpaymentfor the period of the underpayment.

(1)  The amount of the underpayment shall be theexcess of:

(A)  The required installment, over

(B)  The amount, if any, of the installmentpaid on or before the due date for the installment.

(2)  The period of the underpayment shall run from thedue date for the installment to whichever of the following dates is theearlier:

(A)  The twentieth day of the fourth monthfollowing the close of the taxable year, or

(B)  With respect to any portion of the underpayment,the date on which the portion is paid.  For purposes of this paragraph, apayment of estimated tax on any installment date shall be credited againstunpaid required installments in the order in which the installments arerequired to be paid.

(3)  For the purposes of this section, the term"tax" means the tax imposed under this chapter reduced by any creditsavailable to the taxpayer other than the credit for amounts withheld from thetaxpayer's wages or taxes withheld at the source, if any, or estimated taxpayments or payments remitted with extension requests for the taxable year.

(4)  Sections 6654(d), (e)(2), (e)(3), (h), (i), (j),(k), and (l), (with respect to failure by an individual to pay estimated incometax), and 6655(d), (e), (g)(2), (g)(3), (g)(4), and (i) (with respect tofailure by a corporation to pay estimated income tax) of the Internal RevenueCode, as of the date set forth in section 235-2.3(a), shall be operative forthe purposes of this section; provided that the due dates contained in any ofthe preceding Internal Revenue Code sections shall be deemed to be thetwentieth day of the applicable month; and provided further that, for purposesof this chapter in applying section 6654(d), the required annual payment shallbe the lesser of sixty per cent of the tax shown on the return for the taxableyear (or, if no return is filed, sixty per cent of the tax for the taxableyear) or one hundred per cent of the tax shown on the return of the individualfor the preceding taxable year.

(g)  The amounts of taxes withheld from wagesor collected at source shall be deemed payments of estimated tax, and an equalpart of any such amount shall be deemed paid on each installment date for thetaxable year, unless the taxpayer establishes the dates on which all amountswere actually withheld or collected, in which case the amounts so withheld orcollected shall be deemed payments of estimated tax on the dates on which suchamounts were actually withheld or collected. [L Sp 1957, c 1, pt of §2; am L 1959,c 277, §12; am L Sp 1959 2d, c 1, §16; Supp, §121-31; am L 1967, c 134, §4; HRS§235-97; am L 1979, c 62, §2(12); gen ch 1985; am L 1990, c 16, §3; am L 1991,c 20, §1; am L 1993, c 73, §§5, 6; am L 1995, c 67, §1; am L 1998, c 113, §4;am L 2002, c 190, §1; am L 2003, c 14, §1]

 

Note

 

  The 2003 amendment applies to taxable years beginning afterDecember 31, 2002.  L 2003, c 14, §4.

 

Revision Note

 

  In subsection (d), "(a)(4)" substituted for"(a)(5)".